You know how when you’re reading a book and you come across a particular word that sticks in your mind, and not much later you hear it in a completely different scenario? That’s kind of what happened to me recently with protein bars. Ever since I made my first protein bars at home, I’ve noticed how many people buy them from the store. I feel like I see it everywhere — someone buying one from a vending machine, a muscle head chowing down on one on his way out the gym, a bar sitting on someone’s desk waiting to be eaten, someone in front of me at the checkout line buying bars in every flavor possible, etc etc etc. I’m not going to lie, I did that myself… especially with Luna bars. My goodness those things they are addicting.

But why buy those expensive, sugary, processed products when you can make a healthy version at home? A healthy version that tastes even better than anything inside a plastic wrapper can provide.

Line a 9" brownie pan with parchment paper both ways and set aside (or 8" pan for thicker brownies).

Using a stand mixer, add the almond butter and milk to a large bowl and mix on low (don't use a whisk attachment).

Add the sweetener, stevia and butter extract.

Add the cocoa powder and salt.

Process the oats in a blender or food processor (I blended them to a coarse flour for texture), then add to the mixer. Add the protein powder (mixture should look like cookie dough).

When mixture is even, fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop into the prepared pan and flatten with the spatula (I used a pastry roller). Refrigerate covered overnight and slice the next day. Store covered and in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

Feel free to add ¼ teaspoon of instant coffee to the mix if you want a stronger chocolate flavor!

Edit: Life is good with one of these Healthy Triple Chocolate Fudge Protein Brownies in your mouth hand.

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Be happy.

Live fully.

Eat protein bars.

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With love (and healthy dessert),

– Jess

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PS: If you like this recipe, then you’ll LOVE my DIY Protein Bars Cookbook! With 48 unique protein bar recipes, you’ll never buy protein bars from the store again. To learn more about the book and see some sneak peeks, see this page.

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These look awesome! And to think, I almost got one of these at Dick’s! I don’t have protein powder right now, can I just omit for a plain brownie? And I don’t have a stand mixer, can an electric mixer be used? Sorry to bother you with all these “Can I…” questions, haha!

The protein powder is the main dry ingredient, so it should not be eliminated. I’m sure the protein powder can be substituted with a flour of some sort but I have not tried it. If you were to make these using flour, I would recommend oat flour + brown rice flour, as this will create a complete protein when paired with the peanut butter. You can also try peanut flour (16g of protein per 1/4 cup). When mixing the dough, just look for a very thick texture similar to a dry cookie dough. It should be able to form a ball if you tried. Good luck! Let me know if this works out 🙂

So, I made these tonight. Not quite sure what I did wrong – but these were definitely not “cookie-batter” texture once all my ingredients were mixed together. It was like a runny cake batter. I ended up added a lot more protein powder (I just used whey protein – would that have made a difference?) and now it’s super sticky. Put it in the fridge, but I’m hoping it firms up overnight so I can cut them as nicely as yours!

Oh no! I think it’s the whey protein. My friend had the same problem but she said it might be because she didn’t measure the liquids and just eyeballed it… she said that the mixture stayed sticky even after refrigerating it overnight so she froze it and cut the bars once they were firm enough. I would suggest freezing the mixture until firm enough to slice, slice, then wrap each piece in parchment paper so they don’t stick to each other. I’m sorry! However, my friend DID say they were delicious, just a little gooey 🙂

Yes, that might have been the reason. I measured out everything accordingly. Do you always use brown rice protein for your recipes because of an allergy or is it just a preferred pantry item? If there are no allergies, I was wondering if you could try creating a protein bar using whey protein? Not that I wouldn’t switch, but my pantry is stock-full of different whey protein flavors.

Thank you though – and it’s true, they are still delicious. Even the boyfriend loved them and said they taste just like brownies – he requested a glass a milk the next time I hand him one, haha.

Just recently found your page and I plan on trying more of your recipes since they all look and sound so yummy.
I used Erythritol instead of Truvia with an online conversion chart that said 1 packet of Truvia is 3.5grams, so I used 35g of E.! Basically I had to double the amount of sugar I used to get it sweet enough for me. Is Truvia sweeter than Erythritol?
And after refrigerating overnight they are still rather soft and a bar breaks easily? Yours look a lot more firm. Also, I used an unsweetened unflavoured rice/pea/hemp protein mixture.

I totally understand that not everyone has the same tastes and some people might like certain things while other people like others. If you’re used to super sugary, chocolate-coated store-bought protein bars, then I think the candy bar flavors in the book would be your best bet 🙂
Just curious, did you make any ingredient substitutions? Someone emailed me before saying they used unflavored rice protein instead of chocolate, which would be the reason why the bars are less flavorful and sweet. You can also use peanut butter instead of almond butter! 🙂

Everything was the same as the recipe except I used unsweetened almond milk instead of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I even added a tablespoon of local raw honey, because when I tasted the batter I could tell it was going to be bland.

Sorry you didn’t like the recipe. I personally like these brownies, but obviously can’t guarantee that everyone will like them. Just like how I like the Clif Builders bars, my friend absolutely hates them (which boggles my mind, but everyone’s got different tastes).
You might like the Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter Protein Bars more if you’re a PB-lover 🙂

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